Activists and supporters of the Defense of Pakistan Council sit on vehicles in Lahore on July 8, 2012, as they take part in a protest march to Islamabad.

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Thousands of Pakistanis have started a “long march” from the eastern city of Lahore to the capital Islamabad, to protest against the government's decision to reopen NATO supply routes.
The demonstration that started on Sunday was organized by the Defense of Pakistan Council (DPC), an alliance of 40 religious groups and political parties, AFP reported.
Islamabad closed the border crossings used to transfer US-led NATO supplies to Afghanistan in November 2011, after 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in US-led airstrikes on two checkpoints on the Afghan border.
On Wednesday, Islamabad agreed to reopen the border crossings after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was “sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military.”
Thousands of DPC activists and other protesters from all over the country joined a convoy of buses, trucks, and cars on the 275-kilometer journey from Lahore to the capital Islamabad.
“Some 25,000 people have joined us at the start of (the) long march and many more would join on the way, while we have 3,000 people with us who are performing security duties,” the organizers said.
Right-wing politicians and religious leaders from the DPC have been the most vocal critics of the supply line.
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD), an Islamic charity associated with the DPC, called on people to join the march en route.
“Anywhere, the people who are listening to us should join this long march. God willing, this march will become the foundation of true defense of Pakistan," said Saeed.
Pakistan had been the main supply route for US-led forces occupying Afghanistan from October 2001 to November 2011.
Last month, NATO reached agreements with Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan to allow the Western military alliance to transport vehicles and other military hardware from Afghanistan.
NATO previously made an agreement with Russia on an exit route, permitting the alliance to send tens of thousands of vehicles and supplies from Afghanistan to Europe later this year.
GJH/MF/AS